We watched in horror as Sam turned and kissed the girl on the nose, both giggling at each other. “He’s moved on,” I said, completely brokenhearted. “Do you think Izzie knows?”
“I hope not,” Leona murmured, walking forward down the red-carpeted aisle. When she got closer to the stage, she whistled loudly, the sound echoing through the room.
Everyone turned to look, and after a minute, Sam recognized us. He slowly detangled himself from the blonde and then held up his finger to the group, telling them he’d be right back. Then he hopped off the stage and jogged over to us.
“Hey,” he said, pushing his hands into his pockets. “What are you doing here? He looked behind us, his freckled nose was scrunched in worry. “Is Izzie with you?”
“No,” Leona said, putting her hand on her jean-covered hip. “She’s currently at her doctor’s, most likely getting medication for depression. Would you—or possibly your new girlfriend—know why?”
“Oh, my God. Is she okay?”
“She will be,” Leona said.
Sam let out a sigh of relief. “I was worried something like this would happen.”
My ears perked up. “What do you know? She’s been acting really off lately.”
Sam looked up, and his brown eyes met mine. He looked guilty, sad. “She asked me to stop seeing Jen,” he motioned to the stage. “She said she didn’t want to keep meeting up if I had a new girlfriend.”
“Shut the front door!” I blurted out, my pulse racing. “What do you mean ‘meeting up’?” Leona shifted on her sneakers next to me.
He shook his head. “Look, I told Iz that I didn’t want a serious relationship anymore. She said it was cool with her. But when she got all clingy again, I tried to put a stop to it. I swear.”
I was stunned. In fact, I thought I might cry. “Are you telling us that you and Izzie are still … sleeping together?”
He stared at me. “Well, yeah. She wanted to keep seeing each other even though I told her I didn’t want anything serious. She said she was fine with just hooking up.”
“Because she loves you, you ass**le!” Leona yelled, drawing the attention of the entire room. Oh, no. I was definitely going to cry.
We knew this syndrome well; I couldn’t believe we hadn’t seen the signs. It was a common problem among our clients. They’d find out that their boyfriends were cheating, be devastated, and then spend the next few months secretly hooking up with them until they finally hit rock bottom and moved on. We called it clinger syndrome. It was an epidemic.
“Wait,” I said. “That note—it was to you?”
“Note?”
“To meet at the 7-Eleven?”
He hitched in a breath. “Oh. Yeah, I’d pick her up there sometimes, and we’d go driving. Maybe park somewhere.”
I looked away, imagining all the horrible ways that Izzie had disrespected herself to hold on to her ex. I didn’t want him to continue.
“Don’t you ever touch her again,” Leona growled, the sound in her voice mirroring how I felt. “You took advantage of her.”
“I disagree,” he shot back quickly.
“Samuel?” his girlfriend called from the stage. “We’re ready to start, hon.”
I turned to face him, moving one unsteady crutch forward. “You destroyed her,” I whispered to him, my eyes glassing over with tears. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Look,” Sam said, “I’m sorry that’s she hurting. I really do care about her.” He paused. “But I have to get back to class, okay?”
Leona shook her head. “Back to class? Of course, Samuel. We wouldn’t want to keep you waiting.” She rolled her arm as if she were welcoming him to a fancy ball, and he backed away slowly, concern in his eyes.
“Tell her that I hope she’s okay.”
“Don’t think so,” Leona answered, reaching over to put her hand on my arm as we turned to leave. We were almost to the door when Leona looked back. “Oh, and Jen?” she shouted. The blonde looked over, mildly curious. “He’s cheating on you.”
I gasped, but Leona smiled deviously and led us out the door.
When Leona dropped me off in front of my house, I was still shaken. Izzie wasn’t the one who had turned us over to the football team, but what she was going through was even worse. And what made it nearly unbearable was the fact that none of us knew.
Too depressed for TV, I went into my room to check my e-mail. I was dying without my phone, but every time I called Aiden, there was no answer. And he wasn’t responding to my messages or e-mails. I almost thought he was doing it on purpose.
I sat at my desk and flipped on my monitor, quickly signing in to my personal account. I hoped today wasn’t filled with hate mail. I was already sad enough.
Oh. One from Joel. He was always so cute about messaging. It showed how much he was thinking about me. Unlike Aiden who was holding my phone hostage.
I clicked on the message, but about one line in, I started to perspire. When I finished, I read Joel’s e-mail again. He’d come straight out and asked me to be his girlfriend. I … I was caught a bit off guard by that.
With a shaky finger, I hit the reply button. But when it came up, I just stared at the screen. I didn’t know how to answer. I placed my elbows on the desk and rested my chin in my hands as I contemplated.
First, Kira would be devastated. No matter what Joel said about her friendship with him, this was against girl code. It definitely was. Then, of course, there was the matter of Aiden. I still felt guilty about the not-forgiving-him comment.
Joel. When I thought of him I had to smile. He was funny, cute, charming. He was everything I wanted and needed in a boyfriend, and yet something was holding me back. I couldn’t even bring myself to kiss him.
There had to be a reason. I used to think it was Kira, but now I wasn’t so sure. What if there was a tragic flaw in our relationship, but I couldn’t see it? I hadn’t exactly been observant lately. I had missed Izzie’s complete meltdown. Or I could be scared of getting hurt. Maybe I was jaded and would end up alone with fifty cats!
With a swift movement, I turned off the monitor without answering. I didn’t know what to say, and I was totally freaking myself out. Instead, I reached for my house phone and dialed quickly.
It rang once. Twice. “Hello?” Aiden’s voice was raspy, as if he’d been napping.